This week I spoke at a meeting of the nation’s Lt. Governors. My panel was on a resolution that would encourage the Lt. Governors, to support a process, which would develop decision methodologies for determining what is “inherently governmental.”
I’m not making this up. (I know, you wonder about my productivity in that I was even there and still paying attention.)
This in keeping with a move across many states to prioritize spending and to improve management. The resolution included a specific reference to the federal FAIR Act (1998 procurement law) and OMB Circular A-76. The group received a excellant briefing from OMB on how competitive sourcing is done in the federal government and how OMB uses the cicular’s guidelines and associated processes to better manage agencies.
The resolution faced stiff opposition in the resolutions committee and in the open session. Every other resolution — calling for more insurance mandates, “support” for the National Guard, etc. — sailed through. Sadly, a group of public officials could not bring themselves to say that there should be clear limits to public sector entry into the private marketplace.
Lt. Governor Perdue left early to join Governor Easley at Ft. Bragg for the deployment of troops on Thursday. Therefore she missed the discussion and her position was not made clear. Too bad, she missed my reference to public-private partnerships in our community college system during the discussion.
